Welcome!

This blog began as we documented our adoption of our third child, Caleb. It is now an eclectic journal of our often amusing lifestyle with 4 young children.

We do try to "keep it simple" because our lives are obviously busy enough! We try to hold true to what we firmly believe is the most important: family, friends, and faith.

We hope you enjoy our everyday happenings!

12/25/08

Let's Hear It For The Boys!

As promised, here are some pictures and video of the MEN of this household!






This first one is hilarious. For the record - Keith was watching them when this started up. I assure you that it is an empty roll from wrapping paper - and that no one got hurt!



We have had a ton of snow so far this winter. Keith and the boys went out yesterday to do some shoveling. Here is a really good picture of when they were shoveling the deck:

Finally, here is another short video. This one is of when they boys and Jared were shoveling, and Mariah was watching. You can see just how much "help" Caleb is, huh?!?! (At the end, I was trying to get Caleb to wave at me...so please don't think I was ignoring him as he said "mom" over and over again!)

Merry Christmas, everyone!

12/23/08

Girls Just Wanna Have Fun

I have some catching up to do!!! I hope to have the time during Christmas vacation to post daily...I will need to to get caught up with all the cool pictures I have on the computer!

Anyway...this post is to get me caught up on the two most beautiful female members of our clan, Meghan and Mariah. Don't worry - they guys will be next. Since it was Meghan's birthday recently, I have lots of "girl" photos to start with.
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Here is a nice picture of Meghan and her birthday cake. We have a family tradition that when you turn 5, you get to have two birthdays - one for family, and one with friends. It's a big deal for the kids. This is from the "family" birthday:
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And here is Meghan with her group of friends, at her "friend" birthday. We are very fortunate that all of our kids have very, very nice friends. (And yes, Keith and I managed to survive ALL of these girls!!!)
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Here is a picture of Meghan, all ready for her Christmas program for preschool. I certainly didn't tell her to pose like this. For those of you who know Meghan, I'm sure you can pick out the little smirk (and possibly even see the devil's horns sticking out of her head) as she TRIES to look angelic:
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So often, I'm the one behind the camera. Here is a fairly decent picture of Meghan and me. Meghan's personality always shows on the camera, doesn't it?



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And here is a picture of me with both of the girls. How lucky am I to have two beauties as daughters?

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Meghan isn't always a morning person - to put it nicely. She can be quite the cranky lady when she wakes up. One morning at breakfast, she was crabbing so much that I took all of the cereal boxes and made a wall around her, mainly in hopes that the cereal boxes would miraculously turn into a sound-proof wall more than anything. Wouldn't you know it, the little princess loved it. I now have to make her "palace" everytime we eat breakfast:


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Here's a cute picture of Mariah. She is trying so hard to walk on her own...but for now still has to use furniture to get around. Note that she lost a shoe:
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Yet another classic Meghan pose. This was taken at daycare. Again, she has the best expressions sometimes!!! Between her faces and Caleb's, there is a lot of laughing by Keith and I!

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Here is a picture of Mariah in her cute little swimsuit:

I hope you enjoyed the pictures!!!

12/16/08

Funny Ending to a Long Day

I will get pictures posted of Meghan's birthday as time allows...

Monday was a very, very long day. I was awoken to Meghan throwing up Sunday night. It was nasty - all over the bed, all over herself. There is nothing fun about giving a child a bath at 10:30 p.m. Then, as soon as I had her clean and settled in the living room with the infamous puke bucket, Jared woke up and also got sick. Sunday night involved a lot of laundry and trips to the bathroom. UGH...

Monday wasn't much better, although thankfully the nausea subsided. But I was home with a very cranky 7 and 5 year old. I also felt awful (but thankfully never got sick) and the three of us never really ate anything until supper. Since I felt like crap we had cereal. (I thought it would be easier than hot dogs, which Jared wanted). Anyway, Meghan has recently developed a fascination for High School Musical, so of course she had to eat her High School Musical cereal. Caleb ate his usual Apple Jacks, and then started saying "I cool. I cool." We all started laughing, he was asking for the High School Musical cereal! :)

Yes Caleb, we agree, you ARE COOL!!!

12/14/08

A Great Christmas Poem

I "borrowed" this from Kerri's blog. I thought it was so cute!!!

'Twas the night before Christmas and all through the casa,
not a creature was stirring - ¡Caramba! ¿Qué pasa?
Los niños were tucked away in their camas,
some in long underwear, some in pijamas,
while hanging the stockings with mucho cuidado,
in hopes that old Santa would feel obligado,
to bring all children, both buenos and malos,
a nice batch of dulces and other regalos.
Outside in the yard there arose un gran grito,
and I jumped to my feet like a frightened cabrito.
I ran to the window and looked out afuera,
and who in the world do you think that he era?
Saint Nick in a sleigh and a big red sombrero,
came dashing along like a loco bombero.
And pulling his sleigh instead of venados,
were eight little burros approaching volando.
I watched as they came and this quaint little hombre,
was shouting and whistling and calling by nombre:
''Ay Pancho, ay Pepe, ay Cuco, ay Beto, ay Chato, ay Chopo, Maruco, y Nieto!''
Then standing erect with his hands on his pecho,
he flew to the top of our very own techo,
with his round little belly like a bowl of jalea,
he struggled to squeeze down our old chimenea.
Then huffing and puffing at last in our sala,
with soot smeared all over his suit de gala,
he filled all the stockings with lively regalos,
none for the niños that had been very malos.
Then chuckling aloud, seeming very contento,
he turned like a flash and was gone como el viento,
and I heard him exclaim, y ¡esto es verdad!
Merry Christmas to all, ¡y Feliz Navidad!

--author unknown

12/12/08

HAPPY 5th BIRTHDAY MEGHAN!!!

Our beautiful and spirited Meghan is 5 years old today!!!! Here is a very short trip down memory lane (I'm pressed for time!!!!)


At the hospital. Nona is holding Meghan as Jared gives his new baby sister a kiss.
Here is Meghan and me right after she was born.
I love this picture. It was taken right before Meghan's baptism. She is about 1 month old in this picture.
Here is Meghan at roughtly 9 months. And no, we didn't let her play with medicine (note the bottle). We made it into a rattle by putting macaroni noodles in it. But look at those eyes!
Here is a great picture of Meghan, the Dora girl. She still has this hat and I plan on keeping it forever!

And another one of my favorites. Meghan dressed herself up like a princess one day. Lord, look at all that jewelry!!! She'd better marry a millionare if she wants jewels like that when she is older...

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, MEGHAN!!! We love you so very, very much!!!!!!

12/10/08

Fab-U-lous Blog Award

Fab-U-lous Blog Award!
Hannah was so very nice to give me the "fabulous blog award." Now, I know my blog is not fabulous in the least...it's just a place for me to record the everyday happenings of our very busy family. Hannah must have let the excitement of the holidays go to her head or something!!! Hannah, thank you for thinking of me, though! So humbling!!! Hannah is a special friend to me. She and I both adopted our children from the same town in Guatemala. We went through some very difficult times - very stressful times where it really seemed like our children would not be allowed to come home. If you check out our posts from October/November/December 2007 you can see what I mean. Hannah, another adoptive mom in the same situation, and I really leaned on each other, and are all very thankful to have our children home this year.
Here are the rules to receiving this award:
  1. You have to pass it on to 5 other fabulous bloggers in a post.
  2. You have to list 5 of your fabulous addictions in the post.
  3. You must copy and paste the rules and the instructions below in the post.
Instructions: On your post of receiving this award, make sure you include the person that gave you the award and link it back to them.
All right - here we go! My Five Biggest Addictions:
  1. DIET PEPSI!!! Absolutely, positively, my biggest addiction. I would not be able to survive without it. Okay, I did survive when I was pregnant, but cracked one open in the hospital everytime, as soon as labor was over. I can't stand the taste of coffee, so Diet Pepsi is my substitute.
  2. This is really a close second: I live for bargain hunting. I am a coupon queen. My co-workers are amazed (and so is my husband - well, I think he would be amazed, but he's always too busy ripping on me) at the deals I can find. It is a very rare day that I purchase something for full price online...and buy nearly anything in the grocery store either on sale, with a coupon, or both. My resolution for 2009 is to keep track of my savings - and them maybe my husband will stop picking on me!!!!!
  3. My husband will be laughing when he reads this one: laundry. With 6 of us, there is always a ton of laundry. We have not yet graduated to one of those huge front-loading washers, so I have to do tons of laundry with our regular washing machine. I cannot stand seeing overfilled baskets of dirty laundry, it drives me nuts. Plus, I like my kids to look nice, and I spend a lot of time making sure their clothes are clean and unstained. As I write this, I have a load to be folded, a load in the dryer, and more ready to be washed. Laundry is a great addiction, because with a larger-sized family, there is ALWAYS something that needs to be washed. (Note - ironing is NOT part of my addiction, I can't stand ironing)
  4. Chocolate: and darn it, I'd have a model's body if it wasn't for chocolate!
  5. Helping others: strange addiction, yes, but it's what I like to do most. I'm a school counselor, so I even get PAID to do what I love. I would love to win the lottery, start up a huge scholarship fund for kids who need it, and then work for a non-profit (with Guatemala ties) for the rest of my life. I'm debating going on a service trip in 2009 (if I can get off of work, that is). I like donating to different causes, donating food, etc. I'm VP of the PTO at my kids' school. But what hurts the most is that I wish I could do more...I feel like I'm not helping nearly as much as I should be helping. Once I'm retired, I'm going to be one of those people who donates time all the time!!! So, if you read this post, please consider donating something for me (time, food, clothes, toys, money, etc.). (And no, I'm not the least bit trying to brag. I should be doing so much more than I am.)
OKAY - SHOUT OUT TO FIVE OTHER BLOGS!!!!!
  1. Ana: Ana brought her son home the same day that Caleb came home. She even delivered Gerber Puffs to the hotel room for Caleb, since it was the only thing he would eat at the time. I never got to meet her, I was "kinda" 9 months pregnant when it was finally time for our Embassy appointment and wasn't allowed to fly to Guatemala for pick-up. Anyway, she has a great attitude and insight on everything and I value her every word.
  2. Kerri: I met Kerri in Guatemala. We were on a visit trip, she was there for her pick-up. Since adopting her first daughter, she adopted another daughter from Ethiopia. She is a single mom and I am amazed (and a bit jealous) at all she is able to accomplish! I'm dying, and there are two of us. She has got to be one of the most organized people I know!
  3. Sue: I met Sue through the guatadopt.com boards. Thank heavens for Guatadopt, huh???? She and her husband recently returned home with her son from Guatemala. So now she has 2 young children to keep her busy. Sue is one of the nicest people ever. Hi Sue!!!!
  4. Kim: Okay, another adoptive parent from Guatemala. Sorry...I need to broaden my horizons I guess! Kim used the same agency as we did. Her daughter has only been home a month, and I'm so excited for her to have her first Christmas together as a family. (Heck, I'm excited for us, too!!!!)
  5. Dara: Dara doesn't have a blog, more of a website. She's been feeding HER addiction of Facebook lately, so I'm not sure if she'll read this or not! Dara lives in the town where Caleb was born, in Guatemala. She has given me hundreds and hundreds of pictures and stories of the area. What a goldmine for when Caleb is older. I am eternally grateful to her and the information.
Okay, thank you for checking out my un-fabulous blog. Have a great day, everyone!
Kris

12/8/08

Please keep this family in your thoughts...

For those readers who aren't internation adoptive parents, you may just not "get it" completely. Those of us in Guatemalan-Adoption-Land are a very close-knit community. When someone suffers a loss on the guatadopt.com forum, we all grieve. This, however, is just beyond terrible.

Please keep Carla and her family in your thoughts and prayers. They were in the process of adopting their beautiful daughter, Josi, from Guatemala. They were nearly done - there was a good chance that Josi would be home for Christmas this year. Tragically, Josi and her foster family was murdered by an intruder. I truly cannot imagine, and I can't stop thinking about how Carla nad her family family must be trying to deal with this right now.

Again, please remember this family as they deal with this inconcievable event.

http://azhderianfamily.blogspot.com/

Kris

Edited to add:
Please go check out Mary Ann's blog to see how you can help Josi's family. http://theshrumfamilyadventures.blogspot.com/

Our Visit with Santa

Last weekend, we went to visit Santa Clause. I was a little apprehensive - the entire "Santa thing" is new to Caleb, and he gets very upset around people or situations that he doesn't know. Plus the mere idea of bringing 4 kids into the local flower shop (read - lots of breakable, nice stuff) was a bit unnerving as well. However, the kids did great!!!!


Jared went first. I should mention that ALL my kids (and Keith and I) are huge believers in Santa!

Meghan was next. This was the first year that she had no problem climbing up on Santa's lap with her requests. It was difficult to capture the complete joy on her face...but here are a few pictures:

Mariah was next. At 9 months, she doesn't have the complete "stranger anxiety" yet, so she didn't cry. She just kept on looking at Santa like, "who is this guy, anyway???"


And then it was Caleb's turn. By this time he was a bit upset and did NOT want to sit on Santa's lap. I've mentioned this to some people before, but besides the fact that this is Caleb's first Christmas with us, the entire concept of Santa Clause is new to him...his foster family in Guatemala was Jehovah's Witness. ANYWAY...Santa was very understanding...he moved over so that Keith and Caleb could sit next to Santa.

Doesn't Caleb just look THRILLED!?!?!?!

This picture is even better. See the look on Caleb's face? I love this look. I get it a lot when I won't let Caleb do something (like color the wall with markers, or eat candy at supper). I'm so glad I caught it on camera, although I feel bad that Santa had to get "the look."


Now this last picture was really cool. Keith and Caleb were about to get up when Santa tickled Caleb. He started laughing!!!! So now he knows that Santa is pretty cool, after all.


Kris

12/7/08

Check out the new glasses!!!

Jared now has glasses. No big surprise, as Keith and I have horrible vision. So far, he LOVES them. It was neat for him to re-discover everything, now that he can see clearly again. Enjoy!

Caleb, 9 1/2 months

Caleb, 9 1/2 months
Here is a great picture of Caleb we took during our visit trip.

Caleb, 4 1/2 months old

Caleb, 4 1/2 months old
This is our favorite picture from the group we received with our referral.